Within the past few decades, there’s been a major shift in how consumers view nutrition. In the mid-1990s, beverage formulators were modifying products with negative-nutrition, thereby removing fat, sugar and salt to make products healthier. However, once the “bad” stuff was taken out, consumers began to associate those products with poor taste.
If consumers don’t like the taste of product, regardless of how healthy it is, they won’t re-purchase it, experts note. “This drove the industry to create better-for-you products that improved health by adding ingredients rather than removing them,” says Michael Kemp, nutrition manager for Kerry, Beloit, Wis.